If you have any spare money to pledge, please check out my Writer's Pack Kickstarter- ledges seem to have slowed down significantly which would be a shame, as it's a win-win-win-win situation (You get to read an Elite gamebook, I get to *write* an Elite gamebook, the "Elite" universe expands and gets richer, and FD get £1.50 for every £1 pledged, up to the first £3000) if the Kickstarter gets funded.

Good time to be popping in Michael, some people here have some honest and important questions here. Some should be easy to answer. Others will likely go in the 'too hard' basket, but nevertheless we'd be interested in what you have to say

A £70 (or £80) digital only tier with free expansions is something I would also recommend. Probably gives about the same money to FD since no physical goods needs to be made/shipped and it's also close enough to the next tier so people might jump up another step. Needs to be clear though that NO boxed edition will be included in this.

@Frontier Dev: whilst I appreciate the ideology behind "getting it right" before release, I do hope that the roll-out for seamless planet landing is rapid once you pass launch. You're quite right about the fact that this time around the surface needs to be more than a coloured height map. And anyone who has managed to wrestle the controls from Ars Astra will appreciate the appeal of planet falling only to discover winged creatures flying around the landscape (which I shot immediately ha ha) - the promise of it's scope is enticing. As is the promise to be able to walk around ships/space station/planet surface (hell yes please!!) But I do have to say that having discovered these games through FE2, seamless planet landing is inseparable from the Elite brand to me... Not having it from day will mean for me I won't really start to play the game till its there (no SLP is why I didn't back SC or that one the kid did) ... So can guys you please in a future update talk about the speed for updates past version 1.0? Are we talking months , 6 months , a year before we can fly down to the surface? Also would it be possible to see a tech demo of a planet fall - even if the planet is lifeless & barren height map - would be good to see too please. Proof that the foundations are there already. The infinity engine tech demo from 2010 looks pretty good for example but 2 years later it's still unreleased (can't wait for their Kickstarter vid soon) so we know SLP takes time. Therefore even if it's alpha as f##k, I think it would be important to your investors to demo some proof that the work is in progress with this. That and a rough update schedule would be good I think at this stage, it would make pledging to a promise a little more palatable. Thanks

@ Charlie - they should be very worn out or they are doing it wrong!
As I understand it, the actual payment side of things takes at least 2 weeks to resolve with KS, so they should have a small break before the real hard work begins. just long enough to take a deep breath and dive straight back in :)

Given that ED is set a century after FE(?), the Thargoids have evolved some immunity to the virus, so are making tentative explorations into federation space with scouts and battle fleets -- particularly unexplored areas or Anarchic systems with little or no Galcorp/Naval presence, for example.

@Kevin, No I'm suggesting a lower priced digital only version, I may have put it badly though, too early for a sunday morning. strictly limited run, perhaps 500 tops to get the £20 pledgers to jump up.

@Styggron - True and I have friends who swear by ozgameshop, but the BL2 ULCE was only available via EB and in VERY limited numbers.
I use that game as an example because it is the only limited edition I have ever bought. Mostly I shop online and wait for sales (steam) etc. I just thought the comparison was fairly appropriate ($180/£120 for collectors edition + 4 DLC campaigns vs $80/£50 purely digital game + 4 DLC campaigns).
You make quite a convincing case for the £90 though :P

@Satan of course there are lots of £20 it is the cheapest level and you hit the nail on the head...."free" expansions are going to cost a lot so it needs to be at a higher level :-) and they have done EXACTLY that. :-)

i agree re pure digital, it wont cost pledge money as there are only a couple of hundred 90 backers, yet 10,000 20 backers! besides, think most those on 90 will stay and enjoy the other benefits. The only issue i have is that if it costs 1.25m to make the basic game, and everyone goes for the free downloads, how will FD afford to develop the downloads?

@Keith Incorrect it would cost Frontier aorund £40 per person for the free upgrade so you need to look at it from their end not just yours. Of course you are trying to get as much as you can for as little as possible payment that is the duty of the consumer, the goal of the business is to offer you some middleground :-)

Also you run the risk of £90 pledges all dropping to £55 so.......nope...not a good idea.... :-)

@styggron it is coming from savings (kids don't need university education any more do they?) not my pay. I just think this one game is so vast and detailed that playing it will remove the need for me to get at least 3 others as I am not sure why I would stop.

@Styggron : I am quite sure it will be a lot more expensive not to go for the £90 tier. Take WOW as an example,that is a ever growing world,or Sims 3 that will put you back atleast £200(probably a lot more) for all the expansions.

@Styggron You are right. Xmas presents for 3 children being top of the list right now! Elite comes way after that. I am just expressing a point of view and I hope everyone realises that I have tried to be honest and constructive on here these last 4 weeks. I have not liked a few of the answers from FD lately but so what. It's their game to make and I wish it all the best. The gaming world certainly needs some ambition these days.

@Keith I certainly understand some want digital only and some want physical but the £90 tier is to "reward" those at high level because giving out free permanent upgrades is going to cost frontier a lot so they need to recoup hence the £90. Also it is clear you want the free upgrades but at the moment you have no choice but to go to 90 but you have already said no game will allow that so I guess it is a moot point. You will have the £20 and when the paid upgrades come you will need to choose whether you want them or not. However you might end up paying more than £90 overall which would be ironic. :-)

I kinda agree with Keith on the pricing thing.
I am Australia so bear with me on the prices, but:
1) I bought Borderlands 2 Ultimate loot chest for $150 Aud and the season pass for $30 - so I got a bunch of physical items and expansions for $180 total. I see this as equivalent of the £90 tier,
2) Had I just bought BL2 digital, with the season pass it would have been $50 (depending on where I got it etc) + $30 (season pass) = $80 (which Google tells me is approx £50).
Currently I back at the £20 level and am really pushing to get the extra £70 (+ £15 for international) for the expansions, but if they said you can add another £40-£50 and get the expansions (digital) only, I would be MUCH more likely to increase my pledge.

I am on the £1500 pledge level. Would i pay that for a game? No. But getting the game is a reward, the money is to help the game be made in the first place. I see this as being The Game. When you start to get bored you change the way you are playing, trader, pirate, missions, developer, bounty hunter, assasin.

£90 for what is inessence 5/6 games with all the awesome features of Elite, that will scale with technology is incredible value.

'88 on the Atari ST for me. I was 6 at the time. Played Elite until the extra ram dad had installed blew up. Then once Dad fixed it I kept playing.

Thrashed FE2 and FFE, then moved onto cars and girls, then uni, then babies. have dabbled in Oolite and Pioneer, got involved in the story / plot of Pioneer but haven't done any serious game playing for years and years

Well based on yesterday it seems like a lot of people agree with you so I think this Kickstarter is a done deal but I don't think FD have anything to lose offering a Complete Digital Tier in that obvious £55 slot which will cost them NOTHING to do and might bring in a lot of money. Even if a few of the £90 folks drop down to it FD will save money on Boxes, Discs, T-Shirts and postage etc.